It’s our first trip to Japan together!
Our trip spanned a total of 11 days. We started off in Tokyo, then moved on to Osaka, Kyoto, Hakone, and then finally back to Tokyo.
Cousin Eric joined us for a majority of the trip and we all had a blast!
Day 1: Tokyo
We arrived! Here’s Bel and Eric waiting for the Narita Express train into Tokyo.
Checking into our first hotel: Conrad Hilton Tokyo
That evening, my cousin Mamoru came to pick us up at our hotel to take us to a family dinner in Yokohama. The subway station was pretty close to the hotel
Goofing off at the train station
A wonderful family dinner in Yokohama!
After dinner, my cousin Masatoshi took us our for drinks/snacks at a counter izakaya that was tucked away in a small alleyway. Cold beer and yakitori! Yum! What a great way to cap off the night!
Day 2: Tokyo (continued)
Walking the streets of Ginza in the early morning
We just recently finished watching the film “Giro dreams of Sushi”, so we wanted to stop by and see his sushi restaurant! We couldn’t justify spending that much money for an actual meal here, but it was nice to see the location in person.
Next we headed over to the Tsukiji fish market and the whole place was amazing!
The hustle and bustle of the warehouse, the fish vendors hard at work, and the forklifts whizzing by you all add to the unique environment. The sashimi lunch we had there was one of the most amazing meals I’ve ever had. The fish was so fresh and just melted in your mouth. Droool…
I’m really glad we got to experience this world-famous market before they move to a new location in the near future.
To walk off our lunch, we headed to Yoyogi park to visit Meiji shrine.
We were also on the lookout for cherry blossoms in the park but unfortunately there were none in sight as they had all already bloomed.
We walked around the shrine a bit, and wrote a prayer to hang on the prayer wall.
After the shrine we headed to Tokyo Dome city to watch the Yomiuri Giants play a baseball game!
We watched the game with my cousin Chizuru and her son Yuto! Go Giants!
The Tokyo dome stadium was amazing! The view was pretty great from anywhere in the arena.
It was a fun experience ordering bento boxes from the food stands.
There were so many choices, and they even had special choices based on which player you liked on the team. We also saw numerous beer girls with kegs on their back walking up and down the aisles.
The fans at the game were really incredible!
I think mostly everyone was standing up and chanting/singing throughout the entire game. Definitely one of the best sports crowds I’ve been a part of.
It was such a memorable and exciting night at the ballpark! Thanks for a wonderful evening Chizuru and family!!
